PIA has decided to replace its ageing Fokker fleet with SAAB 2000 aircraft.

They said that spare parts of these aircraft were now available at exorbitant prices and therefore, PIA decided to go for the SAAB2000 aircraft. Interestingly, the sources said, the SAAB's aircraft manufacturing division stopped production some three years ago. The Swedish concern is now dealing in cars and defence aviation accessories, they said.

The sources said that fleet replacement and the choice of aircraft mainly depended on five factors which were: (a) airline's financial status, (b) passenger profile, (c) route structure, (d) Environmental conditions of the main hubs from which it plans to operate and (e) fare structure.

They said that none of the factors was considered when the decision to buy the new aircraft was made. The sources said environmental conditions were important for smooth operation of an aircraft as high summer temperatures, elevation, length of runway and obstacles in flight path determined the payload that an aircraft could carry.

They said the SAAB 2000 aircraft were fully computerised and their operation capability depended on optimum operation of their computerised systems, while hot and humid climatic conditions with dust suspension affected the functioning of computers.

The sources said a high-tech aircraft, equipped with advanced airborne landing instrumentation, would be useless if the airports on which they were planned to be operated, were not equipped with appropriate landing instrument.

The sources said the airports used by the Fokker were not equipped with instrumentation to justify the high capital investment involved in the purchase of the new aircraft.

In fact no airport in Pakistan, except Lahore, has Category 2 landing facility, while the recently purchased B-777 has the capability to land in Category 3 weather conditions. (Category 3 landing facility enables an aircraft to land in visibilities ranging from zero to 50 metres).

The sources said the Fokker operation had never been profitable for the national carrier as it had been meant to meet the political obligation of successive governments over the past 15 to 20 years. They said the high cost of inducting new technology could be justified only if it could be used to its optimum capacity.

SAAB cars are run by GM, SAAB is basically a sub-contractor to Airbus and Boeing and make fighter planes like the JAS 39 Gripen. The production of the SAAB 2000 stopped 4 years ago,
63 built and it has been flying since 1992, with 2 crashes with no fatalities.
SAAB 2000 surely got a good reputation, but SAAB won´t make any new one,
so they have to lease/buy some used ones...

Yes, just like the Fokker 100, the Saab 2000 has a revival because the first hand owners are selling theirs. PIA will be able to acquire a homegenous fleet in good condition for less then half a newbuilt fleet will cost, probably former Swiss (Crossair) machines. The only amazing thing is I thought the Saab is more aimed at modern European airports while for instance the Dash 8 (or Fokker 50) would be better suited for the smaller Pakistan airports with few facilities, maybe gravel runways and such.

There are very recent rumors going around that Pakistan's airforce is seriously looking at the SAAB Gripen as well, to replace the F-16. If these SAAB 2000s are remarketed by the manufacturer, this may put some incentive on the deal to go through.

This is actually great for PIA. The SAAB 2000 is an amazing aircraft, and it is somewhat unfortunate that SAAB stopped producting planes.

They said the SAAB 2000 aircraft were fully computerised and their operation capability depended on optimum operation of their computerised systems, while hot and humid climatic conditions with dust suspension affected the functioning of computers.

Well, no more than anywhere else. SAAB 2000s operate in extreme environments already.

Ironic.
It could be said the SAAB2000 died a premature death at the hands of the Regional Jet.
Fast Forward 5 years.
The honeymoon is over with the Regional Jets, Airlines are beginning to re-evaluate their fleets.
Is the turboprop making a comeback? Was it ever dead in the first-place?
If the SAAB2000 was in production today, would it be a seller? Was it ahead of it's time?
What is the best platform for getting 50 people to a destination 500 miles away? propjet or fanjet?
In this forum we are hopefully all mature enough to recognize that turboprops are just as safe as the mainliners, but is the public? Meaning, has this recent proliferation of pure-jet travel permanently weaned the public off of propellor based travel? Howmany people travel by turboprops in today's world? Pct of public and pct of traveling public. I for one haven't been on a prop since 1975! It was Hughes Airwest, PDX-OTH-MFR-ACV-SFO-MRY.